The DVD "I'm Only Looking - the Best of" released in 2004 contained a collection of most of INXS's videos + live and unreleased material. This contained remixed sound (from the multitracks) on all the official clips. INXS - I'm Only Looking - The Best Of
The Original Sin 12" dance mix is my favourite remix/extended version of this song (there are 5 to my knowledge). And one of the main reasons why, is how Kirk's sax riff in the verses partly mimics Tim's guitar riff in the original mix. And in many ways, I almost think they should've kept it like this...
I Send A Message extended mix I assume this is the correct version. I looked as much as I was able and this is the mix that seems to come up. We open with a horn honking and then the bass (a sequencer bass?) and move into the groove. we get some delay effects, and then move into the vocal, and the backing track has been edited and stripped down to almost a drum and bass backing. We move into some sections that are similar to the original and then move into a somewhat instrumental section, with the quite clever addition of telephone sounds. I think this mix/arrangement is quite interesting and it does work as a nice alternative, with some interesting bits and pieces added in and taken out, to give a lot of the song a slightly different perspective, while still managing to retain its identity.
Burn For You extended mix While we have been through the songs already, and I have a little extra time this morning, I'll hit another one of these. I don't want you all getting bored. We open slightly differently and it still works nicely. At the beginning the arrangement is very similar, but we have a slightly more sparse arrangement in the verse, and it actually works quite nicely. I actually find this mix very interesting at this stage, because it is the same song, with some nice adjustments in the elements, without really restructuring the song too much. About half way we get a nice little extended instrumental section, and again we get some adjusting of levels to bring different elements to the fore, and I think it works quite nicely. We get an added chorus and then we get the vocal stutter effect obligatory for early eighties 12" mixes, but it isn't overdone, and works well to lead into the instrumental bridge. I really like the revised ending too. I think this is really very well done. Possibly not different enough for some people, but for me it keeps its personality, and broadens the palate at the same time.
I've considered myself a fairly well-informed INXS fan all these years but this is the first I've heard of those Capri versions of the early songs. What a treat.
I dig both extended mixes of I Send A Message & Burn For You. But to be honest, these mixes don't really add much worth mentioning, apart from a few instrumental parts that don't appear in the original mixes...
I recently picked Dekadance on vinyl. I had it on cassette back in the day; a friend bought it too and we marvelled at the subtly different cardboard covers. I really like the remixes; in some ways they are almost perfect takes on what 12" mixes did in that era. Original Sin is obviously the same 'take' but wth an extended outro. I found the different rhythm on Dancing on the Jetty (single mix?) a little distracting. Send a Message is great and found myself singing along with the 12' edits like it was yesterday. Probably my favourite of the set. But Jackson is bloody awful. I really the INXS rhythm section, but mainly when they do what they do very well: funky and sinewy, with rigid chattery drum programming featuring heavily. When they try a more natural country swing, however, they're playing very much against their strengths here. But Jenny Morris had sung with them on stage throughout that era so it was good to see her record with them. I do miss the random noises separating the tracks (I mainly remember it between Love Is and Jackson but others have said it was elsewhere throughout). Up util this thread I was unaware that the 'Dance' 12" with Black & White had been called Dekadance in other guises. A friend at school had that cover design on a T shirt and wore it at a school swimming carnival. The envy! (sidenote: I'm pretty sure it was Kate Ceberano (and perhaps Zan) on BVs on Burn for You, rather than Jenny Morris)
I like all the extended versions from this album. They don’t really feel like remixes in most cases, but rather as unedited longer takes of the album tracks. My ideal version of this album replaces all the edits with the full 12” extended versions. I don’t feel that way about their later albums because on those the remixes are more radical. There was a period of time in the early 80’s though, before the remixing generally got handed off to 3rd parties, that the album version of a track was often either the same as a 12” or an edit of it.
Just another thought, with the recent 30th ann version of Kick the mastering wasn't as 'hot' as their releases had been getting (the 25th Kick was quite 'hot') and I saw a recent interview with Kirk who spoke about a possible b-side release. I have hope that there will be releases for all their albums covering all the b-sides The album sleeve notes Frank Simms, Dave Spinner, Daryl Hall, Jenny Morris, Sherine, Sean Kelly, Andrew Duffield, Norma Lewis & Kim-liat Edwards on backing vocals (for the whole album) KateCeberano (in 'I'm Talking') did perform with INXS on the Australian made concerts in 86/7
I remembered at the time in interviews they spoke about re-recording these tracks so it was a nice surprise to see them included in that great compilation 'stay young' the complete deluxe years releassd by Raven records in 2002 this also has some early demo's b-sides live tracks + the first two albums & singles remastered
These remixes are tastefully done and provide a alternate to listening to the album or single mixes..their remixes were all pretty good up to around 'X' when most of their original instrumentation was replaced with programmed drums and barely resembled the tracks they were remixed from..they were OK just not the same (when they did release a compilation of remixes INXS squared it contained mainly tracks from Kick onwards..an early remix compilation is long overdue..I like melting in the sun's remix.
Dancing On The Jetty - remix We get a little percussion underneath the opening vocal, and then some of the sounds are slightly altered on the instruments. This is labelled a remix, rather than an extended mix. When we go into the chorus, again there are some subtle differences in the sounds and levels and I think that is fine. Perhaps the band themselves wasn't sure about the sound they got on the album..... that is just speculation from me. The instrumental break seems to have a slightly more forward lead guitar , and that suits me. As we move into the next section again it is somewhat subtle differences to the album version. So on the whole, I am not sure how essential this mix is, but I do like it.
Melting In The Sun - remix - 12"/extended mix This version certainly starts of fairly different. We get those edits that chop off endings to make them tighter, and we get an interesting series of variations on the vocal to instrument ratio. It is actually quite an interesting mix, and it seems like whoever did the remix and chop up, had a few ideas about what they wanted to do from the outset with this one. We get a couple of sections that use the double kick thing as sort of fill sections, and also a couple of other interesting break sections that include somewhat industrial sounds and guitar inserts, and some kind of interesting vocal arrangements and such. So with this track it manages to retain the integrity of the original but .... lets say they used oils instead of acrylics? Probably worth a listen for anyone that hasn't heard it.
The blurb on the back of the LP says Dancing on the Jetty was released as a 7". Given that it's remixed by Andrew Farriss, I wonder if it wasn't an attempt to make a more straightforward radio-friendly version, given that Launay's sonic pallet was seen as pretty edgy. That said, any time i've seen the video, it's had the album mix as its soundtrack, so who knows. Maybe a 7" in only some markets. Maybe given his emerging confidence with the band's success, Andrew wanted to get involved in production work and this was an opportunity for him to get some runs on the board. I too am merely speculating!
Dancing On The Jetty's remix & the Melting In The Sun's 12" / extended mix, are competent and I probably enjoy them more than the other remixed/extended versions. But the problem is that they're stripped of some of the grit & edginess that make the originals superior...
Love Is (What I Say) This is remixed by Mark Opitz, who had a very successful production career in Australia, that really gave some Aussie bands a huge boost in sales and exposure during the late seventies and eighties. This track again doesn't sound hugely different to me, but we do have some differences. It appears to be the correct mix, if it isn't please correct me, and post the correct version.
Jackson this song threw a few people for a loop when it came out.... I don't think many teenagers in my world at the time understood what on earth this was all about. I was very familiar with the song from my dad's records, and I actually thought it was very cool that they did something so different from their usual stuff..... Now listening to it now, I enjoy it well enough, but as someone pointed out earlier it shows the band somewhat out of their zone, and I don't think it really worries any of the earlier versions. A nice bit of something different.
Love Is (What I Say) I'm not completely sure what this is..... The note on the link: Quote from producer Mick Bell - " this video was made in 1985 by Mick Bell (Prod) & John Hillcoat (Dir). It was shot in Perth at the end of their world tour. The live stuff was shot at Perth Entertainment Centre. The Japanese calligraphy are quotations by the Marquis DeSade, who is the inspiration for the lyrics". I'm guessing the video was made to help promote the 1985 cassette 'Dekadance' as it featured the Mark Opitz mix of Love Is... (the superior mix in my opinion) When the INXS 'Greatest Video Hits' was released in 1990, whoever was responsible for the audio redubbing / remastering used the original album mix from The Swing (something that's bugged me for 21 years), not anymore. Here's the video, in its two very slightly different edits, the first features audio from the Dekadance cassette (hence the occasional slight tape dropout), the second at 3:45 features the audio from the vinyl promo of Dekadance (hence the occasional sibilance). Ok so it is just two versions of a video .... I am unsure if these were released or not, it is a long time ago. It was apparently done in my hometown of Perth
For anyone interested. This was the first time most of us saw Jenny Morris. In her band QED with their first, and perhaps only hit Everywhere I Go
Jenny actually went on to have a pretty solid solo career, and she did have quite a few hits ... She Has To Be Loved, You I Know, Body And Soul, Self Deceiver.... Here is You're Gonna Get Hurt
I haven't heard anything from the guys for years, so I have no idea what Andrew has been doing..... I totally agree that it was cool they stepped out of their comfort zone....
-- He's been making some country-western tunes. I began to follow his FB the past year or so. It's really a mind-bender. If you have some time, they are Amazon or I-tunes, or YouTube.
